As disclosed in “4.7 Support for relaying” 3GPP TS36.300, V10.3.0, 2011-03, in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a Relay Node (RN) is being studied for the purpose of improving the coverage of a network (hereinafter, referred to as a LTE network) performing wireless communication in conformity with Long Term Evolution (LTE) and expanding the capacity of the LTE network.
The relay node relays a communication with a wireless interface between a base station (eNode, hereinafter eNB) which performs wireless communications in conformity with LTE and a mobile terminal (User Equipment or UE, hereinafter referred to as a user terminal) corresponding to LTE.
The following is known about the relay node (see “4.7 Support for relaying” 3GPP TS36.300, V10.3.0, 2011-03, in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)).
The relay node is connected to the network by a donor base station (Donor eNB: DeNB). The donor base station has an additional function of communicating while considering the relay nodes.
The relay node includes one cell. The one cell is independent from a cell included in the donor base station. The relay node terminates a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol so as to independently control the RRC protocol.
The relay node may be used in transportation such as a train and a small-sized area such as an event site. By enabling to utilize the relay node in the transportation and the small-sized area, a region accommodating communications and a capacity of accommodating the communications can be improved. The region of the cell covered by the relay node may be narrower than a region of a macrocell belonging to the base station or than a region of a macrocell belonging to the donor station.